"Wow..." He smiles. "You really grown....heh, you look like a geek." He ruffles my hair.

"Stop it, don't touch me!" I pushed him away.

He smiled. "Hyun-ah, you're still the same." He leans on his elbow. "How old are you now?"

"I'm 18...." I muttered. "You live near the area...?"

He shook his head. "Nope, I live in Yokohama. That's where I met my future husband in college." He chuckles.

No wonder...

He covers his mouth, "I know the text I sent to you a long time ago, you deleted it."

"Yeah...so what?" I tried not look at him.

He chuckles. "Hyun-ah, you answered the text before though. Why?"

"...." I pause. "...I said I was in a bad mood so....I thought I should take my mind off of something to see you."

"Really?"

I nod. "I don't want to talk about it..."

He smiles softly. "I understand. So...how's your korean?"

"Bad." I covered my face. "Why did you have to bring that up, Kyo Hye?"

"Haha, to make fun of you." He laughs.

This is my brother. Kim Kyo Hye. He's about 25 years old and works as a veterinary.

I glance at him, "Did your hair get lighter?"

Kyo Hye shook his head, "Ha? You noticed? I actually dyed it a lighter color." He ruffles his hair.

"Hmm....has it not--"

"No, he has not..." He looks gloomy now. Wow.

I smiled a bit. "How did you two meet?"

Kyo Hye sits up straight with puppy eyes and light blushing cheeks. "Ahh~ I have no idea."

...seriously...?

I sigh, "Okay, I should go then..."

"Come on now! Heh, he should be coming now." He holds my arm. "Oh! There he is now!" He points to a guy with cool shades and a tailored suit. Light dark black hair flows down to the left along with his perfect grin.

He takes off his shades slowly and his eyes...are navy blue.

"Oh...hi." His dreamy voice comes in.

Whoa....

Kyo Hye waves for him to come over. "Ah! Shin, come over here!"

The guy named Shin, walks over and smiles.

"This must be your brother, right?" Shin smiles so dreamy.

No wonder Kyo Hye fell for him...

"What took you so long?" Kyo Hye asks.

Shin shrugs, "Never been around the area. A guy showed me around, he's hot." He takes out his phone and showed the both of us.

"Heh, he is." Kyo Hye chuckles. "He has a nice butt."

What the fuck....

Wait...wait, WHAT THE FUCK?!

It's a side view of Hidemi drinking coffee. He's wearing his hat, sleeveless zip up hoodie and joggers.

"That's my roommate!!" I shout.

Everyone looked at us.

Shin laughs and puts on his glasses. "Well, aren't you lucky? He's hot, tell him that."

I blushed. "S-Sure...."

Kyo Hye scoots over and sighs in happiness. "Ah, Hyun-ah, this is Shin. He's going to be your brother-in-law. We're going to get married within 7 months."

"7 months...? Why so late?" I questioned.

"It takes time and money and blessing." Shin answers. "That's why we called you here."

"You want me to give money??"

"No, no, that's not it..." Kyo Hye chuckles. "We just want your blessing..."

I paused.

What...

He...they just want my blessing...

"Why..."

Shin closes his eyes, "I know what happened between your family. I just want to make sure you accept your brother for who he is..."

That he's gay? That he choose you than us?

"I don't know..." I turned away. "I don't know...."

Kyo Hye chuckles. "It's okay...I understand. It's still bad that I'm gay...umm...I still want to invite you to our wedding."

Shin sighs, "Hopefully you'll be there." He bows and stands up. "Kyo Hye, let's go."

Kyo Hye gets up and bows towards me. "I'm going back to Yokohama...."

As they leave...I tried to think...

It's for the best right? I-I mean...I might lose him. Again...

Mom and dad wouldn't like it. Would they?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I came back to the dorm. Hidemi was looking at the laptop.

He turns around and looks at me. "Oh...you're back..." He puts his arm around the chair. "Where did you go? You were gone for a long time..."

I shook my head. "Just nothing..."

I can't really look at him for what happened earlier on.

"Hey....Hyun Oh," Hidemi calls for me. "A friend of mine is coming over, so could you stay until he comes?"

Who is he...

"Um...sure..." I sat on my bed, looking down. "What's their name?"

Hidemi stands up and shuts down his laptop. "His name? Oh, I think you know him. He's my Manager. You met him before..."

Him....seriously....

...

The door knocks.

I opened.

The Manager....dude...

"Ah....hello..." I spoke.

The Manager nods his head. "Is Hidemi here?"

I shook my head. "No, he went out to buy food..."

Manager shrugs, "May I come in?"

I moved aside. I cleared my throat. "Why are you here..."

Manager turns around and looks, "Visiting before I leave for America."

America?

"I just need to talk to Hidemi about his work." Manager pulls out papers and his laptop.

"Work? But he doesn't have a job..." I squinted.

The Manager slightly shrugs, "I guess you can call it a hobby. Hidemi gets paid at the end of the month."

"What kind of hobby is this?"

"Webcomic and writing, etc." The Manager puts his things on the desk. "Haven't you seen his work?"

I shook my head. "I didn't know he could draw."

He chuckles. "He must be hiding his embarrassment."

"How is it an embarrassment? Is his artwork that bad?"

"I wouldn't say it's bad but let's say he draws himself into a story." He starts to laugh. "Sometimes his stories makes no sense..."

"Is that you're his manager?" I asked. I never knew Hidemi was a webcomic artist...

He nods. "We met somewhere in Tokyo. I don't recall talking to him or agreeing to do this. But I guess it's a living now."

That makes no sense...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They told me to leave. I did.

After coming back within 4 hours, his Manager left and we were alone.

"I didn't know you were a webcomic artist..." I closed the door. "Why didn't you tell me about it?"

"It's a little embarrassing..." He's staring at his laptop, drawing on his drawing pad.

He's not embarrassed.

"Really?" I crossed my arms. I walked over and take a look. Hidemi quickly changes windows.

"Why did you change it?!"

"Like I said, it's embarrassing!!" He starts to push me away lightly. "Come on, go shower..."

"Do I smell bad?" I began to pout. "I showered yesterday..."

"Well--go to sleep!!" He hides his face. "Ugh....man, you're so..."

"What?" I leaned in.

He looks at me.

We pause.

Hidemi turns away back to his laptop. "...you're so weird..."

Weird?

"YOU'RE WEIRD!" I slammed the desk and quickly ran to the bathroom.

Oh my god...

WHY DID I DO THAT?!?!?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I didn't want to come out of the bathroom.

I did after I heard him go to bed.

I can't handle him anymore...I can't really look at him.

"Why were you taking so long?"

Everything was dark. I couldn't see anything.

I cleared my throat. "Stuff..."

"Jerking off?"

"WH-WHAT?! N-N-N-NO!!" I blushed.

Why would he even say that?!

I hear him chuckle, "I don't know...your face was red when you left to go to the bathroom."

It...it was...?

I hear shifting in the bed. "Hurry and go to sleep."

"O-Okay..."

...

My eyes were slowly closing until...

"Hey..."

Huh....?

"...y-yeah...?"

"Do you still think that...I don't like you...?"

Wh...What?

"What are you talking about, Hidemi....?" I yawned and turned myself to the wall.

Hidemi shifts around. "What happened today...I'm sorry."

My eyes opened. He's...sorry?

"I don't usually say sorry but I really...feel like I should say it. I do like you but...it's just that I know that I shouldn't like you." His voice trails off.

I sit up. "Why did you say those things?"

The sound of the covers moving and suddenly, his head upside down was hanging down to look at me. From the view, it was dark but I can tell it was him.

"I thought...I should have made it clear. It just seems that my feelings are bringing me down from denying things..." He chuckled sadly. "I like you but...I don't know if you're going to deny your feelings to me..."

I hear him sigh and shifting and moving. Down the ladder, I hear him come down and sit next to me.

"We're both denying a lot of things between us..." He leans in. His forehead touches mine. His hand touches my cheek. "...you're...I mean...." Hidemi takes his hand off of me. "S-Sorry. I just....like....touching you. N-NOT THAT KIND OF WAY!"

mY CHEEKS ARE FUCKING BURNING!!!!!

WHY IS HE DOING THIS?!

"Hidemi, wh-why are you doing this?" I stuttered.

Hidemi clear his voice, "You're just cute...."

"C-Cute...?! N-No! What are you--"

"Stop it! You're only making it worse!!" He pushes my cheeks together. "Look, I'm really sorry for what I said but I think we should start over and stop denying each other. Good night and I'm really sorry." He lets go and goes up the ladder.

....whut....just happened...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, he wasn't there. A text early in the morning when I wasn't awake...

Sent at 6:30 am

[Going to hang with friendz. Ttyl.]

-Hidemi

...why early in the morning??

...

I get a call later at lunch. I pick up. "Hello?"

"Oh~So this is the guy, Hide-Hide?" Someone speaking in english...

"No! St-Stop it!!" I hear Hidemi's voice.

I gulp. "Should I hang up?"

"Wait! Don't!!" She starts to speak japanese.

"Nika!! Give it now!!" His voice comes back in a distant. Tumbles and shifts noises coming out of the phone, makes me wonder if they're in a wrestling match...

"Are you friends with Hidemi?" I spoke loud because of the background noise....

The girl laughs and starts to 'fangirl', "Oh my god~! You sound so cute!! What's your name?"

Answer my question first...

"Give it--!!!" Hidemi's voice yells.

I hear a distant whine in the phone. I guess the girl is pouting about the phone being taken away.

"Ughh...sorry about that." Hidemi's voice sounds annoyed.

"It's fine..." I'm starting to blush after hearing his voice. WTF.

Hidemi coughs and it's...awkward. "If you're wondering..." He starts, "...the girl is just a friend of mine, Nika. She's just wondering about who you are."

"Oh why?"

Oh why?

OH WHY?!

WHY DID I ASK THAT QUESTION!?!??!?!

I MESSED UP!!!

Hidemi clears his voice, he's stuttering for the first time. "A-A-Ah, well you know...ummm...how should I say this--"

"HE TOLD ME ABOUT YOU!!!" Nika screams.

"NIKA!! Go away!!!" Hidemi drops the phone. The distant sounds of the door slamming and the groaning, makes it sounds like...well, like they're brother and sisters.

"S-S-Sorry about that..." Hidemi sighs. "What are you doing?"

"Ah--I just finished lunch. What were you going to say before?"

...

A short silence.

"I forgot." He says.

"Oh...okay..."

NOT OKAY!! I'M CURIOUS WHY SHE WONDERED ABOUT ME!!!

DID HIDEMI TELL HER ABOUT ME?!!?!?!??!

Hidemi clears his voice, "I'll head back to the dorms within an hour. I'll see you then."

"Alright..." I said quietly.

He doesn't close the phone. Neither had I.

"Hey...."

"Y-Yeah?" I stuttered.

"You...you like me...right?" His voice trails.

"Y-Yes....that's r-r-right..."

"Okay...good to know."

The phone hangs.

OH MY GOD!! WHAT WAS THAT?!?!?!?!